In Diario Libre’s editorial today, Friday 16 October 2015, executive editor Adriano Miguel Tejada asks a series of questions:
Who called the meeting, Haiti or the DR? Diario Libre says that President Medina’s spokesman said it was Haiti, and then asks whether given past experiences, were concrete results, such as the lifting of the ban on export of 23 Dominican products, set as a condition for the talks?
Another question asked is, “Did anyone in the Presidency or the Ministry of Foreign Relations analyze beforehand in whose interest the meeting was? If it was not in our interest, why not wait until after the Haitian elections were over, as they are due in just a few days?
Tejada also asks that if already in the meeting, why revoke actions such as the protest for the ban on 23 Dominican products made to the World Trade Organization, exchanging it for lower-level negotiations with supervision and foreign observers? Why allow the Medina government cabinet’s counterpart in the negotiations to be a lower-ranking minister like the Haitian Minister of Tourism?
Tejada says that dozens of questions that can be asked put the Dominican strategy in a disadvantageous position, but the most serious of all is, why, if they invited you to talks here, did they agree to move the negotiations to Port-au-Prince to receive another snub, next time on Haitian soil?
In another opinion piece, Diario Libre newspaper advises the Dominican government to cancel the next meeting in Haiti in 15 days.
The Haitian presidential election is scheduled for 25 October 2015 along with local and municipal elections. If necessary, a presidential run-off will be held on 27 December 2015.
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic Ministry of Foreign Relations has announced that Dominican ambassador in Haiti Ruben Silie would return to Port-au-Prince once Haiti appoints a new ambassador to the DR. Former ambassador Daniel Supplice was fired after complaining to the Haitian press about the failed civil registry process in Haiti that made it difficult for hundreds of thousands of Haitians to finalize their request for residency in the Dominican Republic.
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/am/preguntas-KF1575963
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/de-buena-tinta/cancelen-ese-viaje-en-vano-XC1576011